MARKET COMMENTARY

Weekly Market Recap January 18, 2019

Friday, January 18, 2019, 10:01 PM
Submitted by: Landus Cooperative

For the week, March corn futures finished in the green, +3 1/2 at $3.81 3/4; December futures were up 2 1/4 for the week, at $4.03 3/4. Soybeans also finished in positive territory for the week, with March futures up 6 1/2 at $9.16 3/4
and November futures +3 3/4 at $9.55 3/4.

Both commodities were strong to finish the week, closing in the green both Thursday and Friday.

The vast majority of reasons given centered on either corn or beans being sold to the Chinese. There are even stories of sales of very specific types of wheat as well.

During the day, Friday, several analysts began to poke holes in these thoughts, with one well known analyst using the word “poppycock” based on his information. Most of his reasoning was due to Ocean Freight declining in price. The thinking
being, that if China was indeed securing cargoes, ocean freight would not be getting cheaper at the same time. Add that to the fact that the Minneapolis wheat board did not rally as one would have thought, especially if the rumor of them buying spring wheat
is true. The wheat rumors may be more about potential Egyptian business, which is normal, not Chinese.

Beyond these theories, speculation and other Chinese related rumors, the other big piece of news was that the FSA offices would be opened temporarily. They opened on Thursday and Friday and will be open again on Tuesday, as Monday is a
federal holiday. The bad news part of this is that their sole focus is on finalizing 1099 paperwork so that farmers and ranchers have the proper paperwork for their tax preparation.

Please keep in mind that the CBOT is also closed on Monday in observation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Trading will resume on Monday night at 7PM.

Tune in to this week's episode of the Landus Cooperative Experience podcast featuring the Bull Bear Banter at https://landuscooperativeexperience.podbean.com/.

As the winter weather moves back into our area, please be safe, and pay attention to “the other guy” if you have to be out and about this weekend.